Denver Police Chief Robert White has been holding closed-door meetings lately with unlikely attendees — some of the city’s hardened criminals who hear a straightforward message:

Stop the violence now, or face swift and steep punishment the next time you offend.

“You’re more likely to be the victim of a crime because of your association,” White said, explaining what he and other officials tell the people gathered. But there’s a way out, he tells them. They can get help rehabilitating. As long as they don’t reoffend.

The ambitious program is a new approach to fighting gang violence in Denver.

“We’re adjusting it as we go along,” White said of the program, similar to an approach tried in other cities where he has worked. But he’s forging ahead because, he said, results take time.

Results take time is a familiar mantra for White, who, sworn in as the city’s top cop one year ago, has reached out to communities roiled by alleged police brutality, helped foster changes in the way officers are disciplined and initiated a shake-up in the ranks that has sparked resentment among some officers.

More change to come

White, 60, is Denver’s first black police chief, hired by Mayor Michael Hancock after a campaign in which he promised to change a department tarnished by rough arrests caught on video, and other divisive incidents. White has flattened the command staff and ordered commanders, detectives, technicians and corporals to reapply for their positions, a process that has meant demotions and promotions. He has begun hiring civilians to assume desk jobs held by police to get more cops on patrol.

And if his first year on the job is any indication of what his next could hold, more change is to come. The boundaries of the city’s six police districts will change. So will officers’ shifts and assignments.

And then there’s the gang initiative, which White hopes will drive down violence, improve relationships with the community and even point some of the city’s toughest criminals down the right path.

“What we really have to do is give those changes an opportunity to unfold,” White said.

“Turned upside down”

His efforts so far have been met with both support and criticism. He’s earned the praise of his boss, Manager of Safety Alex Martinez, who calls him a “superstar” and from community members like activist the Rev. Leon Kelly.

“He has come into the city and as soon as he got here, within the first week, he met with me and got my perspective on things. From the start, he did things that other chiefs have not done,” Kelly said.

But some of those who work for him complain he has done little to explain his goals or reasoning. They question the fairness of interviews for those who had to reapply for their jobs and doubt that the wholesale replacement of experienced personnel will create a more effective department.

“For some reason, the department is getting turned upside down and we don’t understand why,” said one officer, who, like others interviewed for this story, requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The reductions in pay and status accompanying the department realignment may have stoked resentment but also opened a path to advancement for younger officers, said Mary Dodge, director of criminal justice programs at the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Public Affairs. “It provides an opportunity for people who may have thought they were stuck and unable to get these positions.”

Civil Service rules limit changes the chief can make within the ranks. But he can retool the ranks of detectives and other appointees.

“If you are trying to change the way people look at the department, why are we going after the detectives? The problem was the guys in the street,” said one officer.

White said he understands the unrest felt by many in the department. “I would be upset, too. It is change. I am empathetic and sympathetic about that, but where we need to go as an agency is more important than one person being upset over the changes.”

Many in the community said they had high hopes for White a year ago, when he pledged an ongoing dialogue and an open-door policy. It was a time of strained police-community relations, as the disciplinary process for some officers accused in high-profile excessive force cases dragged on for years. It seemed difficult if not impossible to hold certain officers accountable.

“The chief inherited all these issues,” said Mu Son Chi of the Colorado Progressive Coalition. He said he would take the community’s input to heart. But, Chi said, he did not do that when he made certain appointments, such as putting Division Chief Mary Beth Klee, one of the senior officers who recommended no discipline be taken against two officers involved in a rough arrest outside the Denver Diner, in charge of Internal Affairs.

“Had there been community input, those appointments would never have been made,” Chi said.

“Making an effort”

“He’s making an effort — I can’t say that about everybody,” another community leader, Cisco Gallardo, said of White. Gallardo, program director for Denver’s Gang Rescue and Support Project, said he is tentatively hopeful about White’s carrot-and-stick approach to fighting the city’s gang violence.

“I’m not 100 percent sold on it, but he’s trying stuff differently,” he said. “He realizes there are a lot of misguided kids, and you can’t arrest your way out of it. That’s something we haven’t seen in a while.”

The chief’s changes have given commanders an opportunity to take a hard look at the problems affecting their districts and how to properly assign resources to tackle them, said Cmdr. Tony Lopez of the notoriously busy District 6 station downtown. The chief moved detectives from headquarters into the stations with the hope that doing so would give them a better sense of a district’s unique problems. For example, Lopez said, he can focus more attention on narcotics investigations.

“I’ve got more detectives handling more issues for me,” Lopez said. “(White) is providing an environment where we can take ownership of our districts.”

Along with the new personnel has come additional unmarked cars for undercover work, said District 1 Cmdr. Paul Pazen.

But whether the public will notice the addition of more detectives to district rolls is an open question. “They are not rolling down the street in big white,” one officer said in a reference to cops patrolling in squad cars.

It will take another year or more to fully understand the impact the chief is having on Denver, Dodge said. Reduced crime rates could be one measure of success but won’t tell the whole story. “That can inform us, but it won’t tell us if he is effective or not. How the public feels about the police, do they have confidence? That will be an important sign.”

A general assignment reporter for The Denver Post, Tom McGhee has covered business, police, courts, higher education and breaking news. He came to The Post from Albuquerque, N.M., where he worked for a year and a half covering utilities. He began his journalism career in New York City, worked for a pair of community weeklies that covered the west side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 125th Street.

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